Sometimes it is a drag being correct

[Dill]

(06-06-2019, 03:41 PM)Beaker Wrote: I view Trumps actions more as failed attempts to get his way by an egomaniac who is used to getting his way than as fascism.

I understand that.  But critical here is what "getting his way" means.  What, exactly, are the things he wants?

On the one hand, one could certainly want trophy wives, gold plated toilets, a military parade, and demand flattery and brag of stable genius without being accused of even proto-fascism.

But on the other hand, one could be quite an extreme egomaniac without endorsing torture, scapegoating religious and ethnic minorities, disrespecting universal human rights, attacking the press, denigrating women, adulating the military, affirming hypernationalism, and describing political opposition as treason. Very hard to be an authoritarian leader WITHOUT doing those things.

The pattern of hiring people with expertise to get around the law, to exempt oneself from rule of law and consequences, is also disturbing, and goes well beyond a demand to get his way.

It's all that extra that lines Trump up with the authoritarian leaders, not insistance that his crowds--and hands--are the biggest ever.